The very night I heard someone call my name so loud at night, at first, I thought it was one of your sisters playing their usual trick on me.
I had just travelled down to our village to see some people for a few days and was staying in my late grandparents' house, which is the family house. One of my sisters had gone to our cousin's house to spend the weekend, leaving me alone with a bowl of cooked cocoyam and the television that was showing the night news. It was an old house, with nothing modern in it. The window is from wood that rattles whenever there is a tiny wind blow. When I was still a child, before moving to the city, I had spent a lot of holidays there, so I still knew some of the strange sounds. At least, I still thought I did.
It was almost ten thirty in the night when the television beeps twice and suddenly goes off. I went to shake the wire and tried to turn it on, but it was not coming on. The electricity went off again shortly after that. I signed out, picked up my power bank and switched on the flashlight on it. From the bush nearby, I was hearing sounds of crickets, and from far away, some dogs were barking nonstop.
Then I heard my name. "Segun."
The voice came from within the house, somewhere around the corridor.
I remained still. The voices sounded exactly like that of my grandfather, calm but still manly. The type of voice he uses whenever he wants to speak gently to use or address an issue in the house then. For a few seconds, I forgot that he had passed away a few years ago.
I replied, "Is anyone there?"
I got no response.
I stood up with my flashlight on, then walked towards the corridor. Flashing the light around revealed the old family frame hung on the wall and the wooden chair my grandfather used to sit on placed in a corner. Moving around, there were no abnormalities because everything looked normal, but hearing my name from that side made me a bit uncomfortable in a way that almost left me speechless.
I left the corridor back to where I was before. Picked up my phone and called my sister; her phone rang, but there was no answer. I considered going out because my cousin's place was just a stone's throw, but the thought of going out alone and walking in the dark did not sit well with me. Besides, different thoughts were already running through my mind, which made me look foolish. Perhaps the voice had been in my head because entering the house that evening brought back some memories.
I sat up properly and tried to scroll through my phone.
Then someone knocked on the bedroom door.
Three times.
My eyes followed the sound of the knock immediately. The bedroom it was coming from was empty when I entered earlier, and I closed the door from behind myself. I reluctantly stood up and walked towards the door, hoping to see an explanation to the sound I heard earlier.
And this time, before I got to the door, I heard the voice so loud again.
"Segun, come here."
This time, I heard it so clearly as if the person who called was standing directly in front of me.
I turned so fast this time around that my power bank fell from my hand and switched off. I bent so fast to use my hands to trace where it felt that my hands were shaking. I saw a moment that made me forget about my phone.
When I reached for the power bank and switched on the flashlight, I saw something that was very unusual the first time I went to the corridor.
Without thinking twice and hesitating, I ran outside through the kitchen door. I stayed there until my elder sister got back from where she went to, laughing at me when I narrated what I had experienced. But when we both went back in together, she stopped laughing.
The chair that was facing me earlier is back where it was facing earlier.
We went through all the rooms and checked through all the corners and windows. We did not see anything unusual, and both my elder sister and I slept properly that night.
The following morning, bringing the matter up again, she insisted that the wind must have probably moved the chair and that I was tired due to the journey and probably half asleep when I heard the voice. I really wanted to believe what she said. I really did.
Before leaving the house after my visitation, I went back to the corridor one afternoon to arrange it. Moving closer to the chair, I saw a framed picture of my grandfather under the chair. He was sitting on that chair with his signature pose, smiling at the camera.
Checking the back, someone had written the date on it.
It was the same day and month I arrived, but a different year.
I cleaned the frame and put it inside my travelling bag without letting my sister know about it.
Till now, I cannot fully give an explanation of what I experienced that night. But anytime I remember how that voice called my name, I still wonder why it sounded so much like someone who had been waiting for me.
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